Girls are back in town

Or at least back at home!

The girls and boy have been off on their holidays for the last couple of months grazing a friend's pony paddocks, just to nibble off the tops and generally give the paddocks a 'sheep health check'.  It's a great way to revitalise paddocks that get used solely by horses, it really does clean up the paddocks and gets rid of any nasties!

Hello everyone!

Trailer waiting for it's cargo, with hurdles to go either side of the gate posts

Now normally we don't have any problem loading up the sheep, we just drop the ramp and up they go, but as it was raining, they didn't want to come home.  Good job we took our reinforcement with us -

I had to share the front seat with her and the seat belt!  Although she wasn't too impressed with either, but she won't sit in the back.  This is Cerys, our sheepdog.

Loaded, phew!

And all home, happily tucking into some tasty haylage

Always good to have them home again, like knowing where they are and knowing they are safe!  All a waiting game now to the middle of April when they are due to lamb.  Exciting times ahead.

Stats today -

Eggs produced = 7

Sales - 1/2 doz eggs

Expenses - Nil

Movement Ramblings!

Had to laugh earlier, as whilst reading the latest edition of Country Smallholding magazine, February edition, I came across an article about new movement regulations for sheep and goats.

From April 2014 sheep and goat owners will be able to record movements electronically.  The article also says that the new system will provide on online flock/herd register for owners to use, all voluntarily. All on and off movements will be recorded against an owner's register.  Paper copies of movements will also be able to be printed as these will need to go with the livestock

Don't fret, for all those pen and paper fanatics, you will still be able to use the carbonated forms as is currently the case.  This is only the case for England and all current registered keepers will be informed in due course.

This is great news, for me anyway being a bit of a computer geek (according to my husband!), not having to worry if I've got the right form, always the case here as we don't buy and sell that many livestock that often.  So good news if this simplifies the system for all involved.

Stats today -

Eggs produced = 4

Sales - Nil
Expenses - Nil

Movement books

Now I don't know about you, but I find that the movement book and the vet & med book is one of those jobs that gets left behind somewhat, and then when you need the thing for whatever reason, it's practically years out of date.

So having a very important vet visit today (more on that in another post), I thought I had better check that the things were up to date.  It used to be that if you had a visit from the vet, especially the vets from the Ministry (MAFF, in the old days), they went through all this type of paperwork religiously, and having had it drilled into me at college about it's importance (my old college mates will back me up on this!) I set about the task.

Thankfully it wasn't far out of date, so the task wasn't so onerous.  But it did get me thinking, is this just a job that is completely outdated and a waste of time?  I understand the need for keeping medical records, for meat withdrawal purposes etc, but if you're like us here and don't use that many medicines unless absolutely necessary - welfare grounds etc, then you don't run the risk of tainting the meat before eating it.  But the movement book seems rather a waste of time these days.  Pigs are all done online now; cattle can be, but still need paperwork to follow them wherever they go; sheep are still followed by bits of paper, but even now they have electronic tags in their ears, although I wish someone would devise one that actually stayed in! The system is not foolproof by any means, cattle movements, like visiting the bull, means that the passport has to go with them, but then you have nothing at all to identify that the animal belongs to you, it's all done on trust.  I do believe the whole system needs a complete overhaul, surely it can't be that difficult to identify each animal and follow its passage through life, can it?  Should we go back to tattooing?  At least that was permanent, ear tags never are!  Your thoughts would be appreciated.

Stats today

Eggs produced = 2 (!)

Sales - Nil
Expenses - Nil

Fabulous fleeces

Hello, back to it today.  Dad's on the mend although still out in Luxembourg, they're not letting him go in a rush!

Tonight I have a report on the Fabulous Fleece company - www.fabulousfleececompany.co.uk

Over a lunch of delicious home-made vegetable soup on Monday 21st October 2013, I met Lucy Wright at her home in South Norfolk.  Lucy is the owner of the Fabulous Fleece company, which sells a wide range of gorgeous sheepskins, skins and leather goods.

Gorgeous leather bags, complete with her Fabulous Fleece logo

Waistcoat

Several bad falls from horses caused her to rethink her working life.  Starting with four sheepskins, she sold them, bought another eight, sold them and the business has grown organically from there.

Luxurious sheepskins

She uses local people's skills to produce her fire pipes and leather goods, and all the sheepskins are sourced from sheep in East Anglia.  A local artist also designed her Fabulous fleece logo, (see leather bag above).

Fire pipes

The Reindeer hides are all from the Sami tribe in Finland; a wild and meat managed herd where the tribes people live with their animals.

A pile of Reindeer skins

The Blesbok and Springbok are types of antelope from South Africa, these do sell particularly well online and in London, but it is the Reindeer and good old sheepskins that she sells the most of.

Springbok hide - note the tail!

I had a lovely afternoon, in enjoyable company, talking about Lucy's company and horses along with her faithful friend Ruby the Lurcher, who certainly enjoys the fleeces as much as anyone!

Thank you Lucy and Ruby.

If you want any more information or to place an order then please just visit her website for details.  Please mention the blog on contacting her - Thank you.

Weaning time

We finally managed to get the lambs weaned this afternoon, it's a job that's needed doing for a while now, but as usual, life gets in the way!

Separating lambs, ewes and ram into different fields, takes three people and a trailer!

Worming at the same time

'Who's next?'

Separated lambs

Ewes waiting and wondering!

'I don't care, I've got the bucket of food!'

All separated now

Loaded ready to go

'Oh no, you've forgotten us'

'Bye!'

Pastures new

Good to see the ewes off into another field to rest, eat and relax without their lambs, before the cycle starts for us again on Bonfire night.

It is rather noisy around here now though!

Strike one for the flies!

Bit of a worry this evening!  On the way home from the stables, I noticed a ewe in the field, looking rather uncomfortable.  She was laid down, but her head kept coming up sharply, then she'd lay it down again, she'd look up and look round, then get up, move away then lay down again.  Odd behaviour.  Then it dawned on me - Fly Strike.  Groans!

Now for those of you who don't know what Fly Strike is, I'll tell you.  The green bottle flies lay their eggs on sheep; they are attracted to soiled, damp fleece in which they lay their eggs.  The eggs hatch, and the grubs burrow down into the flesh to eat, literally eating the sheep from the inside out.  Disgusting, I think you'll agree and how nature can be so cruel at times, I will never understand.  As you can imagine it is extremely unpleasant and uncomfortable for the sheep, and they will eventually die, if it is left unchecked.  Management practices come into force here - not letting the sheep get soiled areas of fleece, i.e. dagging their rear ends, and the application of pour-on chemicals, which act as a deterrent to the flies.

Now Michael sheared our sheep six weeks ago, so they were due for their first application of pour at any time, but you have to act quickly if you suspect a case, as it is amazing how quickly the sheep will go down hill.  So it was all hands on deck.

One excited Collie - Cerys, our sheepdog, she loves working the sheep.

We have a set of hurdles permanently set up on the edge of one of our fields, so Michael and Cerys rounded them up and in they came; it's wondrous what happens when you also rattle a bucket!

We use different products each time so no resistance builds up.

Each animal is given three big 'squirts', one long one down its back and one either side of its bottom, this ensures even coverage, as the chemical sinks down through the wool and travels around the skin giving protection.

Although I think Michael got a bit carried away with some of them!  But that's the principle we work by.

The finished sheep.

As you can tell we run a small flock of mules here, and in the right hand corner of the above picture is our pedigree Texel Ram, you can't miss him really.

His pedigree name is Stoke Ash Onion, aka Mr Onion here.  He is the soppiest, daftest, loveliest ram we have had, and shouts to me when he hears my voice, not a nasty bone in his body.  A closer view -

And then they were off, not too much of a harrowing experience, I hope.

Happy to be back out in the field again.

Phew!  Thankfully we didn't find any fly strike on any of them, so maybe that ewe was just being 'bothered' by flies.  But we do have a fail safe, backup plan.  A tip that we learned from an 'old' shepherd, was to pour on diluted, but still strong disinfectant, over the affected area(s).  It has an amazing effect.  Instantly the maggots start to drop off, giving relief to the animal.  This usually cures the problem, then with an application of a pour-on, it saves the animal any further discomfort, and it (hopefully) recovers.  That's what the two bottles in the picture below are filled with.

Stats today -

Eggs produced = 11

Sales -
1 x Geranium plant £1.50
1 x Oregano herb plant - £0.50
1/2 dozen eggs £0.90

Expenses -
Nil